Public safety disability system 'ripe for abuse'

Disability retirement is intended for public safety workers with dangerous jobs who become permanently incapacitated by illness or injury. But over the years, it has also become an escape hatch for unwanted police officers and firefighters and a way to pad the pensions of those at the end of their careers, an Orange County Register investigation has found.KEN STEINHARDT, The ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Police work was no longer an option for Orange County Sheriff's Deputy George Kluchonic.

Kluchonic was accused in 2001 of trying to destroy evidence: patrol car videos that showed him scuffling with a 19-year-old man and accosting a pedestrian he thought was drunk.

Prosecutors labeled Kluchonic, then 43, a deputy out of control. But his trial on misdemeanor charges ended in a hung jury. Prosecutors offered Kluchonic a deal: do 80 hours of community service and we won't re-try the case.

Kluchonic agreed – and applied for a disability retirement.

He claimed his wrists, hands, left knee, back and neck were injured in an on-duty traffic accident five years before he was charged – and that his "psyche" suffered from being criminally accused.

Disability retirement is intended for public safety workers with dangerous jobs who become permanently incapacitated by illness or injury. But over the years, it has also become an escape hatch for unwanted police officers and firefighters and a way to pad the pensions of those at the end of their careers, an Orange County Register investigation has found.

Medical retirements come with hefty tax breaks at a time when government is struggling with falling revenues and huge pension liabilities. Under the California Public Employees Retirement System, which covers most city police and firefighters, a disabled retiree gets at least half of his or her pension tax-free – sometimes more.

Critics of the system – including some frustrated city officials – say that many police officers and firefighters spend their careers claiming every injury or illness, so they can later make a case for a disability pension.

"You end up with officers at the end of their careers, looking at disability retirement and the benefits, and there are doctors who will facilitate that," said John D.R. Clark, Garden Grove human resources director.

Public safety unions say the disability laws are necessary to protect employees in dangerous professions.

"It's an incredibly stressful job ... a life or death job," said Carroll Wills, communications director for the California Professional Firefighters Association. "We think the people who put their lives on the line deserve the protection (the laws) afford."

The Register analyzed disability retirements for police officers and firefighters across the county and found:

The Irvine Police Department has the county's highest disability retirement rate for a large citysince the department was created in 1975. Sixty of 99 officers who have retired since the department was formed claimed to be injured or ill. Crime statistics show Irvine to be one of the safest cities in the nation. Compare Irvine to Anaheim, which has more violent crime but a disability retirement rate of only 15 percent since the department joined the PERS system in 1950.

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Disability retirement is intended for public safety workers with dangerous jobs who become permanently incapacitated by illness or injury. But over the years, it has also become an escape hatch for unwanted police officers and firefighters and a way to pad the pensions of those at the end of their careers, an Orange County Register investigation has found. KEN STEINHARDT, The ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Steven Pham, director of human resources for the City of Orange, says many disability retirees take advantage of State Labor Code 4850 to take a year off tax-free before actually retiring. Pham says that presumptive diseases and injuries also make it hard to fight disability retirements – and more tempting to abuse them. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Disability retirement is intended for public safety workers with dangerous jobs who become permanently incapacitated by illness or injury. But over the years, it has also become an escape hatch for unwanted police officers and firefighters and a way to pad the pensions of those at the end of their careers, an Orange County Register investigation has found. Register file photo
"The abuses come from both the employers and the employees. Nobody is guiltless," says former Irvine police Lt. Pat Rodgers, who sat on a city retirement panel for public safety. "If a police officer becomes disenchanted with the job, and has a moderate to minor injury, he can say, 'I'm taking a disability retirement.'" Photo Courtesy of Pat Rodgers
Disability retirement is intended for public safety workers with dangerous jobs who become permanently incapacitated by illness or injury. But over the years, it has also become an escape hatch for unwanted police officers and firefighters and a way to pad the pensions of those at the end of their careers, an Orange County Register investigation has found. Register file photo

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